Empress Zhangsun finally left, but she left with a mysterious smile. She left quietly, but she left behind a bomb that could explode at any time for Yan Shaoning.
"Dad ~, why did you agree to it ~? I'm only 18 this year, why are you in such a hurry? "
Yan Shaoning only mustered up his courage and said pitifully after Zhangsun left.
"Bastard! Her Majesty Hong En, are you going to reject her? Besides, what the Empress said is exactly what I'm thinking! Look, Xiao Xuan is three years younger than you, but he's already married. What about you? "
Yan Lide glared at him and said angrily.
Yan Shaoning shrunk his neck, wiped the spittle on his face, and looked at Li Zexuan bitterly. His eyes were clearly saying, "Damn it, it's all your fault!
Sometimes, it's a pain to have a friend who's too outstanding ~! "
Li Zexuan rolled his eyes helplessly, which meant, "Brother, I'm just that outstanding, there's nothing I can do about it!"
Yan Shaoning almost vomited blood. If it weren't for the wrong occasion, he would have fought Li Zexuan to the death.
"Ahem! Uncle Yan, I'll leave the construction of Yanhuang College to you! "
After exchanging glances with Yan Shaoning, Li Zexuan felt a little uncomfortable because he felt that this kind of exchange was a little gay, so he looked at Yan Lide and said seriously.
"Mm! No problem ~! His Majesty has personally instructed that the Ministry of Works will fully cooperate with you ~! Fortunately, the higher-ups haven't given the Ministry of Works any urgent construction tasks recently, so according to my initial estimation, the Ministry of Works should be able to allocate 220 skilled craftsmen for you.
A few of them have participated in the construction of Cuiwei and Yuhua Palace with me, so they're very experienced in building buildings. As for the ordinary workers, you'll have to hire them yourself. The imperial court won't conscript them for free ~! "
Yan Lide raised his head and thought for a while, then said while stroking his beard.
"220 ~? That should be enough ~! As for the workers, I will definitely hire them myself. Uncle Yan, you don't have to worry about this. What I want to ask is, with the construction skills of the Ministry of Works, is it possible to build such a tall building? "
Li Zexuan nodded and asked.
He knew in his heart that in the entire imperial court, except for Li Er and a few generals who were close to him who supported Yanhuang College, the rest of the ministers were either watching or objecting in their hearts. After all, this involved the competition between schools of thought. Under such circumstances, it was already very generous of Yan Lide to be willing to transfer so many craftsmen to him. As for the ordinary workers, he had never expected the imperial court to use corvee labor to help him conscript them for free. Since he had made up his mind to build Yanhuang College, he had never thought of saving money.
The crux of the problem was whether the Great Tang could build a ten-story building with its current construction techniques.
Yan Lide took another careful look at the sand table, then pointed to the future teaching building of Yanhuang College — Guanghua Building, and smiled confidently.
"Little Xuan, you're worried that the building is too tall and the craftsmen can't build it, right? Haha ~! Actually, you don't have to worry at all. This building only has ten stories, and the total height is estimated to be no more than 120 feet. It won't be a problem to build it.
Little Xuan, you've seen the Big Goose Tower in Jinchang Square, right? That tower has a total of 20 stories. Compared to the Big Goose Tower, your building may occupy a larger area, but as long as you put in more effort into the supporting pillars between the floors, it won't be a problem to build it to 10 stories ~! "
The Big Goose Tower was located in Jinchang Square in the South Jin Dynasty of Chang 'an City. It was also known as the "Buddha of Mercy Temple". After several renovations, it was 64.7 meters (about 190 feet) tall, which was equivalent to the height of a 20-story building. A thousand years ago, it could be called a "skyscraper" in the Tang Dynasty.
However, the awkward thing was that Li Zexuan rarely went to the south of the city, let alone to the Big Goose Tower. This was worthy of his reputation as a homebody.
"Uh, ahem, that's good, that's good ~!"
Li Zexuan was a little embarrassed, but at the same time, he was relieved. However, he was still a little curious. Such a tall building would definitely not be built with only wood, because wood couldn't bear such a large weight. But if it was brick, the problem would arise. There was no cement in the Tang Dynasty, so how would the wall be built ~?
"Uncle Yan, what kind of materials do you plan to use to build this building ~?"
Such a "stupid" question made Yan Lide speechless. He said, "Bricks, of course. Such a tall building can't only be built with wood ~!"
Li Zexuan's old face did not look too good after being treated as a stupid c * nt. He directly asked the main question, "Then what kind of material should be used to glue the bricks ~?"
Yan Lide's expression became even more strange. He paused for a while before saying, "Of course it's glutinous rice mortar ~! Little Xuan, you … you don't even know this ~? Then why did you design such a tall building ~? "
"Uh, I really don't know ~! This kid wants to design it first and see if it can be built. If it can't be built, this kid will think of other ways. Ahem, Uncle Yan, are the walls made with glutinous rice mortar reliable ~? "
Yan Lide was speechless. He was still praising Li Zexuan for his proficiency in architectural design. Now it seemed that this guy was a complete novice in some aspects. He shook his head and said,
"Of course it's reliable ~! The walls of Chang 'an City are made with glutinous rice mortar. Don't you think it's reliable ~? "
In fact, the ancient construction technology was far from as low as Li Zexuan imagined. Although there was no cement at that time, there were many substitutes.
The West initially used clay as a cementing material. The ancient Egyptians used the mud of the Nile River to build uncalcined clay bricks. Around 3000 BC to 2000 BC, the ancient Egyptians began to use calcined gypsum as a building cementing material.
In 146 BC, the Roman Empire annexed Greece and inherited the Greek tradition of producing and using lime. The way the Romans used lime was to first dissolve the lime's saliva and mix it with sand to form mortar. Then, they used this mortar to build buildings. Some of the ancient Roman buildings that used lime mortar were very strong and had even been preserved until now.
Later, the ancient Romans improved the use of lime. Not only did they add sand to the lime, but they also added ground volcanic ash. In areas without volcanic ash, they added ground bricks that had the same effect as volcanic ash. Some people called the "lime-volcanic ash-sand" three-component mortar "Roman mortar".
In the history of European architecture, the "Roman mortar" had been used for a long time. Its performance was basically close to modern cement. However, in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries AD, the mortar technology was almost lost.
In ancient China, although there was no Roman mortar or cement, the hardworking and intelligent ancient working people still invented other alternatives. The most widely used and the longest circulated was glutinous rice mortar.
According to records, at least not later than the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386 – 589 AD), glutinous rice mortar had become a relatively mature technology.
Mixing glutinous rice mortar with aged lime paste could increase the cement strength, surface hardness, toughness, and impermeability of the mortar. It significantly improved the firmness and durability of the masonry.
Today, many ancient buildings that used glutinous rice mortar, such as the ancient city walls of Nanjing, Xi 'an, Jingzhou, Kaifeng, and other places, as well as the Ming and Qing fish-scale stone pond in Qiantang River, were still very strong despite hundreds and thousands of years of wind and rain.
Facts proved that glutinous rice mortar was an outstanding building cementing material. The engineering quality of the ancient buildings built with glutinous rice mortar was not inferior to some of the modern reinforced concrete buildings.
Therefore, the wisdom of the ancient people was not to be underestimated. The technology of the ancient people was not useless. There were still many shining points.
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